For me, the end of a year is like the end of my life.

1159 Wednesday night will be like the moment of my death.

The 365 days of 1980

are like a miniature lifetime as I look back.

And these final days here at the end are like those final hours in the hospital

as the family gathers around in one of those rooms where they have a sofa and carpet just after the doctor has said the end is near.

And in these last hours of 1980, the whole thing passes before my eyes and the inevitable question arises, did I live it well? When at 1201 on January 1 I enter into the presence of Christ will I hear him say well done

Piper good and faithful servant. I feel very, very fortunate that 1980 ends this way for me, like the end of my life.

And I pray that if that's not your experience at the end of a year,

that perhaps just this morning you might share that perspective with me for a few minutes.

And the reason I feel so fortunate that that's the way it ends for me

is that it's a great advantage.

It's a great advantage to have a trial run at your own dying.

It's a great benefit to rehearse once a year for the final scene.

And the reason it's a great benefit is because for most of us,

January 1 is going to find us alive.

And well, with a whole new beginning stretching out in front of us very different

from the day of our dying and that's a good thing. The great thing about rehearsals is that they show

you where your preparation has been faulty and how you can improve before the play actually begins.

But I suppose for some of you, at least I've run into lots of people like this the thought of dying is so gloomy and so

depressing so fraught with grief and pain that you do everything you can to keep it out of your minds, especially

during a holiday season like this. But I think that's very, very unwise. I think you do yourself a great disservice

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